Mathuvan Union wrote:Nobel Hobos 2 wrote:
Vietnamese have been here since the late 1970's. Just like the US actually: we screwed up their country so we owed them something. It was actually a Liberal (center-right) Prime Minister, Fraser, who invited so many in. There's a weird parallel with the US, maybe sparked by that Vietnam War we were both in, that around about the same time the Democrats kicked out their racists, the equivalent Labor party here finally abandoned the last of its White Australia Policy.
Just for a little while Liberal and Labor were on the same side, pro-immigration. Sadly they're both on the wrong side now.
Anyway, about the Vietnamese. They've been here long enough, mainly. They get into small businesses like bakeries and newsagents that born Australians wanted to get out of because of small profit margins. They push their kids in school, and someone you meet in a professional setting who looks Vietnamese is quite likely a born Australian with the accent and everything. If you get out among the working class there's resentment of them, because they've done so well, but everyone gets that.
With the Chinese it's more complicated. But I wouldn't say there's widespread racism just because they look Chinese ... it's that long history. But racists do challenge them in public, wanting to know if they're "real Aussies". Or refusing to be treated by them in a hospital until they're told the doctor grew up in Bankstown and went to the public school ...
Yeah, we're I'm from, most of the places have Vietnamese underneath the english because Victoria has a lot of Vietnamese.
yet very little chinese, which is why I love Vietnamese food and hate Chinese food, because there aren't any chinese food restuarants.
I'm guessing the sight of Asian people isn't unusual in Australia and isn't anything out of the ordinary for those living there. Nothing eyebrow raising